Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Rep. of

Title of the survey

Monthly and semi-annual reports on employees and net wages.

Organization responsible

Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia, Wages and Social Security Section.

Periodicity of the survey

Monthly and half-yearly (in March and September).

Objectives of the survey

To supply information on nominal and real changes in net and gross monthly earnings, distribution of employees by earnings levels, and number of employees by economic activity.

The main objective is to provide the government with the tools needed for planning and monitoring macroeconomic policy.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, earnings and labour turnover.

Reference period

For employment: the end of month.

For earnings: the whole month.

In half-yearly reports: March 31 and September 30, and the cumulative period since January of each year to the reporting month.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

All branches of economic activity

Establishments

Enterprises of all types and sizes. This includes social, state, mixed, co-operative and private profit-based companies and firms as well as non-profit organisations and institutions.

Excluded are the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the self-employed, private farmers and Macedonian representatives outside the territory.

Persons

National employees.

Excluded are employees working in Macedonian enterprises abroad, foreign citizens employed in Macedonian enterprises and convicted persons working during their period of imprisonment.

Occupations

Data are not collected by individual occupation.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Employees are all persons who have signed a labour contract (i.e. who have a formal job attachment) with the employer for a fixed or indefinite period of time, irrespective of whether they work full-time or not.

Excluded are persons working under a civil agreement.

Data on the number of employees are collected by sex (monthly and half-yearly).

Earnings

Data are collected on total paid net earnings and total paid gross earnings per month.

Total net earnings include regular cash payments for work done and time worked during normal periods of time; overtime payments; remuneration for time not worked due to annual vacation, public and other recognised holidays, paid leave up to seven days, paid leave for slow-down, accumulated years of service, training and educational purposes, professional specialisation, military and civil duty, sick leave up to 60 days; periodic (semi-annual and annual) payments and bonuses, profit- sharing bonuses and delayed payments.

Since 1998, data are collected on total gross earnings which cover net earnings plus employees' personal tax and contributions for retirement and disability insurance; health insurance; unemployment; occupational diseases and water management.

Cost-of-living, housing, transport and similar allowances as well as the value of payments in kind are excluded from earnings.

Earnings data are collected for all employees together, without any distinction by sex or category.

Wage / salary rates

Not relevant.

Hours of work

Not relevant.

In semi-annual reports, data are collected on the number of employees according to the number of hours paid for, as follows:

less than 160 hours;
between 160 and 200 hours;
more than 200 hours.

International recommendations

The definition of earnings conforms to the international guidelines, but is limited to cash earnings.

Classifications

Industrial

Since 1977, the data have been classified according to the Unified Classification of Activities which contains 14 major groups: mining and industry, agriculture and fisheries, forestry, water management, construction, transport and communication, trade, tourism and catering services, personal services and crafts, housing and communal services, banking, finance and insurance, education, culture and sport, health care and social security, government and administration.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Employment data are classified by type of ownership and sex.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is the enterprise, i.e. the company, firm, state organ, fund, organisation, institution or any other legal entity. Reporting is based on a territorial basis, at the municipality level. If enterprises have component units outside their municipality, these units must report on their own.

Survey universe / sample frame

It consists of the Business Register of Organisational and Institutional Units. It is updated each year according to the Final Statements submitted by enterprises to the Payment Operations Office.

Sample design

Monthly reports are based on purposive sampling. The main criterion is a minimum representation of 70% of employees by municipality, branch of activity and type of activity. At the country level, the sample covers about 60% of enterprises and 90% of employees in each activity. In industry and construction, the scope is almost complete. The sample is updated each year.

Half-yearly reports cover, in principle, all social, private, mixed, co-operative and state ownership reporting units. However, the private sector is only partially covered.

Field work

Data collection

The survey is conducted by mailed questionnaires. The forms are distributed by the regional sections of the Statistical Office and must be returned by the 15th of the month following the reporting month to these regional sections.

Survey questionnaire

Two forms are used. In the monthly report form, data are collected on:

the characteristics of the enterprise,
total paid gross and net earnings,
the number of employees by sex to whom total payments refer,
the employment turnover (number of employed and number of persons having left during the month);

In the semi-annual report form, data are collected on:

the characteristics of the enterprise,
total paid gross and net earnings for the reporting month and the cumulative period,
the number of employees by sex to whom total payments refer,
the employment turnover (number of employed and number of persons having left during the month);
the lowest and highest net earnings per employee,
the number of employees according to levels of net earnings and grouped by the number of hours paid for (less than 160, 160-200 and more than 200 hours).

Instructions are provided in the questionnaires with regard to the main inclusions and exclusions of categories of employees and components of earnings.

Substitution of sampling units

No substitution is applied.

Data processing and editing

The regional sections distribute the report forms and are responsible for their timely return, data quality controls and timely delivery to the Statistical Office. In case of late replies, missing or inconsistent data, respondents are contacted by telephone. The Statistical Office is responsible for computer data processing, logical and mathematical checks, and processing and dissemination of the results at the regional and national levels.

Types of estimates

Average monthly net earnings (and gross earnings since 1998) and number of employees by economic activity.

Annual data on the number of employees are computed on the basis of the situations as of March 31 and September 30.

Construction of indices

Monthly index numbers of nominal and real net earnings are constructed, by branch of economic activity, with various base periods: previous month; same month of the previous year; December of previous year; previous year=100.

Weighting of sample results

The survey results are unweighted. At the country level, the results cover up to 90% of employees.

Adjustments

Non-response

None.

Other bias

None.

Use of benchmark data

None.

Seasonal variations

The survey results are not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

The private sector is not fully covered.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not calculated.

Non-response rate

Not available.

Data reporting is compulsory under the Law on State Statistics; refusal to report and incomplete or inaccurate data reporting may be sanctioned.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Not available.

Available series

Published monthly data include number of employees, and net and gross monthly earnings by economic activity.

History of the survey

The survey began in 1963. Since1998, data have been collected on gross earnings in addition to net earnings.

Documentation

Statistical Office of Macedonia: Monthly Statistical Bulletin of the Republic of Macedonia (Skopje);

idem: Short-term statistical data for economic movements in Republic of Macedonia (ibid.),

idem: Average paid net wages per employee in Republic of Macedonia (monthly report, ibid.);

idem: Employees and net wages in Republic of Macedonia (semi-annual report, March and September, ibid.).

idem: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Macedonia (annual, ibid.).

idem: Statistical research on employees and wages (annual, Skopje); this report contains methodological information.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

Individual data are protected by the Law on State Statistics. They are used only for statistical purposes and cannot be disseminated separately.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

The following data are published in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics: Annual averages of paid employment (by sex) and monthly earnings, by economic activity and in manufacturing, by industry group.

The corresponding monthly series of paid employment are published in the Bulletin of Labour Statistics.